Northrop Grumman has received a contract from the US Air Force (USAF) to provide Cyber Enterprise Services (CES) on US Cyber Command’s Unified Platform cyber weapons system.

The USAF awarded contracts to Northrop Grumman and four other companies to perform the work.

The contract, which is valid for two years, is valued at $24m and involves providing mission critical cyber capabilities for the Unified Platform.

Under the CES contract, Northrop Grumman is required to identify, develop and implement cyber capabilities on Unified Platform.

The contract work will enable the efficiency and effectiveness of cyber missions.

Northrop Grumman global cyber solutions vice-president Christopher Valentino said: “Northrop Grumman is proud to have been selected for the Cyber Enterprise Services contract by the US Air Force.

“We look forward to continuing our strong mission partnership with the Air Force, Cyber Command and the joint forces to develop, launch and operationalise the full spectrum of cyber capabilities.”

"Unified Platform is a cyber weapons system designed to support all defensive and offensive cyber operations, cyber intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for the US Cyber Command’s Cyber Mission Force."

Unified Platform is a cyber weapons system designed to support all defensive and offensive cyber operations, as well as cyber intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for the US Cyber Command’s Cyber Mission Force.

The USAF, which is the acquisition authority of the programme, aims to provide advanced technology to the operational community at the speed of mission need.

Northrop Grumman was appointed in October last year as the systems coordinator on the platform.

The company intends to use continuous development, operations and maintenance of cyber platform systems within a distributed agile development environment to help the USAF achieve its vision.

The majority of the CES contract work will be performed in San Antonio, Texas. The company will also conduct the work in Maryland, Georgia and Ohio.

In November, more than 50 nations signed the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace which is expected to enhance international collaboration on cybersecurity.

However, the US Government chose not to sign the treaty, which according to experts, makes it much more difficult for the Paris Call to have an international impact.